Music and Book Recommendations

There are two books we’ve read recently that we‘ve been telling others about and we hope you will check them out too.

Bill Bryson fans will know that he recently published a memoir of his childhood called The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid. This is a great read, and not just because you will laugh your way through the book over such stories as how a family from Des Moines vacationed in a hotel in Harlem on a trip east. One of the more subtle attributes of this book is that it serves as such a good history of 1950s American popular culture from the perceived threat of nuclear weapons to what was on TV to what happened to small town centers when the immensely popular shopping malls were built. Bryson’s parents were both journalists and he himself has a journalist’s sensibilities which express themselves in good research and intelligent observations. This is a fun way to remember the fifties.

Thin Ice: Coming of Age in Grand Rapids, edited by Gordon Olson and Reinder VanTil, is a collection of stories about growing up in Grand Rapids written by twenty eight different people associated with this city—some quite well known like Gerald and Betty Ford. The contributors lived here over a range of one hundred and fifty years and span a variety of cultural and ethnic backgrounds, revealing an impressive breadth and depth to our city. Rarely has such a personal glimpse of Grand Rapids history been achieved and never incorporating this level of diversity. Citizens and non-citizens alike will enjoy this kaleidoscope of experience that all took place in the same community. A program at 7:00 p.m. on May 15th at the main branch of the Grand Rapids Public Library downtown will serve as a kind of book release with comments from the editors and readings from several of the contributors.

A Musical Touch

If you haven’t yet discovered local musician, Roger MacNaughton, we’d like to do you the favor of bringing him to your attention. Roger plays the piano, composes music and works with an impressive variety of other musicians to create beautiful, original songs that have won him international awards. His recently released 12-track CD, “Crosstown” has a jazzy blues sound. It follows “Winter Canvas” which came out at the end of last year. Roger’s music can be found locally at Schuler’s, Barnes & Noble and Spirit Dreams, and online at www.cdbaby.com.

MI-Stories.com is proud to use Roger’s music in our personal history CDs and DVDs. It makes the perfect backdrop to our client’s photos and voices and enhances the mood of their stories. We think having something unique, locally created and of such high quality adds a special touch to our productions. Contact us about setting your own photos or spoken memories to music in a CD or DVD.